Erin strives to make each project precious, nostalgic, and captivating; drawing inspiration from nature, typography, ephemera, pattern, texture, music and culture.
1. What’s one of the most surprising places from which you derive inspiration? I don’t know if anything’s off limits or surprising anymore, inspiration wise. Once you’ve been doing this for a while it seeps into every part of your life; and one just absorbs bits and pieces of inspiration everywhere. It can be the contrast of blue construction paint against the texture of cracked asphalt, that ever-so-slight gradation on a truck stop coffee mug, or that fading hand-painted sign on the laundromat down the street. Its everywhere, its constant.
2. Over the past few years, what’s one thing that has really challenged you creatively? A few years back I enrolled in a screen printing class because its something I’d always wanted to learn. I had been doing client work for so long I totally forgot what it was like to design for myself – just for fun. The prints for my class we not brochures or logos or packaging and they weren’t for any one client so there were no implied “rules”, design-wise (well, besides designing around my limited abilities as a rookie screen printer). I didn’t know where to start or what I wanted to say. Somewhere along the way, I’d lost my voice as an artist. It was a challenge to get it back and it took 10x as long to design my first project than it did to produce it. Since then, I’ve got an ongoing personal series I revisit every now and again to keep up that voice familiar. Its a fun free-time project or when I need a break from client work.
3. Who are you most looking forward to hearing/seeing at WMC Fest? Unfair question. All. Of. It.
I’m a self-proclaimed designerd and TOTAL music junkie, so this fest is like is like some form of heaven on earth, right?!
4. How does music play a role in your life? What bands/albums are on heavy rotation? Music is the reason I AM a designer. Its played a larger roll in my life than just about anything. It is and always will be my first love and lifelong companion. I started out as a music major but once I realized i didn’t want to spend 80% of my waking hours in a practice room learning every flute concerto ever written, so I switched out of the music program. I had a healthy collection of gig posters adorning my walls and a giant cd collection so when it came time to pick a new major, design had already seemed pretty near and dear to my heart.
Bands/albums in current heavy rotation: Amateur Love, Cotton Jones, American Analog Set, Luna, David Bazan, The National….or, check my last.fm.
You can follow Erin on Twitter or visit her site! Find her at WMC Fest at the iLTHY Workshop all weekend!
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